


Stray

by DarkerThanDisney (Kairyn)



Series: Son of Jafar [1]
Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Isle of the Lost (Disney) is a Terrible Place
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-28
Updated: 2019-08-28
Packaged: 2020-09-28 19:41:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20431397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kairyn/pseuds/DarkerThanDisney
Summary: Uma and Harry Hook's first meeting.





	Stray

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ragnaroq](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ragnaroq/gifts).

> So, all of you can blame/thank Ragnaroq for why this exists. They've really brought this series to the forefront of my head lately. So this is also for them because they really wanted to read it.
> 
> This is primarily a prequel oneshot to my Series Son of Jafar but really it could work just as a general head canon too since it only alludes to some of the things that happen/are revealed in that series.

There was very little someone from the Isle wouldn't eat. Even potato skins (just the skins, mind you) often got munched on. But things like eggshells and foods that should be solid being almost liquefied from age were a bit beyond them. Uma wrinkled her nose as she picked up the heavy, leaking bag of useless -even by Isle standards- scraps and carried it out the back. Her mother, Ursula, couldn't move around very well on dry land -although better than those stupid mermaids with their stupid, shiny, pretty, stupid fishtails- so most of the time Uma had to do the carrying around the restaurant.

Uma hated it. Uma was better fed than a lot of kids on the Isle, but she was still just a spindly thirteen-year-old who hadn't grown an inch in two years. Something that Mal -stupid, green-eyed dragon- kept rubbing in Uma's face with all those shrimp comments. Uma would show Mal who the shrimp was! At some point.

Uma tried to hold the bag out as far from her body as she could because it _reeked_ and was dripping foul-smelling... something all over the place. No doubt Uma would need to clean up the faint trail she had left behind.

The bin out behind the shop was really more like a compost heap. There wasn't anyone coming around to pick up trash or anything on the Isle so the best they got was metal boxes where it could slowly rot away. Uma gagged every time she opened the lid, but it was better than having the scraps that they couldn't eat inside the shop to rot even more. The pile inside the box was a festering mess that flies used as breeding grounds. The fat, ugly black bugs swarmed as soon as Uma pushed the top out of the way so she moved as fast as she could to toss in her bag. Uma kept her eyes shut as much as she could and shook her head to fight off the flies that were trying to get into her nose, mouth, and other places.

Uma tossed the bag in, hurried back a couple steps, and shook her head a few more times. "Gah. The worst!" she complained. She hated flies. They were still swarming, and Uma rubbed at her face. There was a lingering, horrible feeling of insects crawling across her skin and looking for openings. Uma shivered and went to close the lid to the bin from the side.

The rusty metal lid slammed shut hard, and most of the flies were pushed back down into that awful mess. But when the crash of the cover echoed out through the alley, Uma swore she heard a little yelp coming from the other side of the bin. Curious, Uma cautiously rounded the metal box to see what was there. There had once been a door to another building on that side, but it had been bricked up long ago. The bin had shifted over the years to half block the old entryway. That left a small alcove that was semi-protected from the rain and nicely out of sight. If it weren't for the horrible smell of the trash, it might even be a nice hiding spot.

There, hunkered down low, Uma spotted a kid about her age. He was scrawny as all Isle kids were -perhaps a little more so- with pretty light blue eyes that kind of reminded Uma of the sea sky but were currently huge in his bloody face. His lip was swollen and split, and the skin around his left eye socket was darkening. Uma didn't really get a chance to ask who he was -he did look vaguely familiar, but Uma couldn't place him- or what he was doing hiding behind their trash bin before he scrambled for a dagger in his belt to hold up in front of him.

Uma wasn't particularly intimidated by the knife. It looked like it was an old steak knife or something -not particularly long and probably in desperate need of sharpening. The kid moved back as far as he could, which was only about another two inches to press his back firmly against the bricked over doorway. Uma frowned and put her hands on her hips. "Who're you?"

The kid didn't answer, Uma wasn't even sure he registered the question. His eyes were scanning Uma over frantically, and his grip on the wooden handle of the knife was so tight his already pale skin was turning bright white around the knuckles. Uma could see red residue under his nails and stuck in his nail beds. Dried blood probably. "You stab someone with that thing?" Uma asked.

He reminded Uma of a cat she'd once seen. The thing had managed to escape Cruella de Vil -Ursula always said Cruella was the craziest on the Isle with the weirdest habits- and had ended up understandably traumatized. A girl, younger and stupider than Uma, had tried to pet the thing and gotten her face clawed all over. Uma had seen the feral desperation in the cat, and she could see it again in this kid. Uma didn't particularly fancy having her face cut up so kept her distance but crouched down to be closer to the other kid's eye level.

The boy shifted into a smaller ball though Uma wasn't sure how. "W-wha' if I did?" he asked. The kid had an accent... European? Maybe? Uma wasn't sure, but it too sounded familiar.

Uma shrugged. "Then someone was stupid," she said. You had to be stupid to come up to someone holding a knife like that. "What's your name?"

His eyes were still wide and flickering around like he was expecting something to jump out and try to kill him or something. Not exactly an unrealistic fear but not likely to happen when he had solid walls on almost all sides. Uma frowned and waved her hand. His eyes flicked right back to her. "Hey. I asked a question. What's your name?"

"H-harry..."

Things clicked into place. "You're Harriet's brother!" Uma realized. The accent was the same and Uma was sure she'd seen this kid around Harriet from time to time. Uma always had kind of looked up to Harriet Hook. She was brash and didn't take anyone's shit. Plus she was only a year older and already had a little gang of lackeys that she ordered around. Uma would love to have that kind of authority. To be able to tell someone something and _they_ do it. Rather than having to do whatever her mom said.

Harry's hand tightened even more on the knife although Uma wasn't sure how. There didn't look as if there was much room for him to squeeze harder. "So wha'?"

Uma rolled her eyes. "Relax, would ya? I'm not going to mess your face up worse or anything," she said.

That didn't seem to reassure him, but he lifted a hand to wipe some blood off his chin. A lot had dried, though so the trail was still easily visible. Uma eyed him for a long minute in the uncomfortable silence. His arm was trembling, and he looked as if he would have long ago bolted if Uma weren't blocking his only escape route.

Then Uma noticed something just poking out from under the stretched collar of the shirt he was wearing -the one that looked made for a full-grown man rather than an Isle kid. A bloody curved mark was starting to leave a stain on the fabric.

It suddenly occurred to her what she was seeing and before she really thought about it, Uma lurched forward to pull his shirt to the side. "What the fuck? Who bit you?" she demanded.

Uma was a little surprised she didn't get stabbed from such a stupid move, but Harry seemed to have been caught off guard, and though he jerked back, he couldn't go anywhere and slammed his elbow into the bricks behind him instead. He cursed and dropped the knife with a clatter. Uma barely paid attention to that as she examined the deep bite mark.

Harry pulled away, flexing his hand and reaching for his knife with the one he hadn't slammed into a wall. Uma sighed and grabbed his now disarmed right hand and pulled him to his feet. She was a little surprised -and annoyed- to see how much taller than her he already was. How had he squeezed himself so small back there anyway? "Come on. You need to get that cleaned out and wrapped up at least. Honestly, can't you take care of yourself?" she asked.

"I can take care o' myself jus' fine," Harry said, sounding a bit offended.

Uma snorted. "That's why you were bleeding all over the place behind a trash can," she said as she dragged him into the kitchen and practically pushed him into one of the rickety chairs. She pulled his shirt to the side to better see the bite mark and frowned at the glimpses of other bruises she saw on him. "What happened to you, anyway?"

"... Avery," Harry muttered.

Uma's eyebrow went up. "Who's Avery?"

"Dad's third-mate..."

Uma hummed and went to the sink she grabbed the cleanest towel she could find and wet it. "Why'd he bite you?" Uma asked as she brought the rag over. Harry didn't answer. Uma hummed but decided to let him get away with it. When the wet towel went over the bite mark, Harry hissed and jerked away. "Oh, stop it. You want it to get infected?"

Harry scowled darkly. "... no."

"Then just sit still," Uma said as she slowly mopped up the blood and cleaned the wound. After a minute, she realized Harry was starting to shake again. Adrenaline crashing, she figured. His breathing was even picking up a little. Again, Uma remembered the cat. One of the Tremaine girls had eventually picked it up after singing something about Nightingales until it stopped swiping at her. That cat had ended up having kittens with Lucifer but was still pretty nasty to anyone but the Tremaine family.

Uma couldn't think of anything to sing and she sure as hell didn't remember whatever song had calmed the cat down. So as she carefully cleaned Harry's wound, she began humming a little. It was just a weird little tune that popped in her head but it sounded alright, she thought. Harry gave her a side-eye but didn't say anything.

It took what had to be ten minutes for the tension to leave Harry's body. Uma had cleaned the bite mark two or three times. Harry's black eye had fully come in by this point, and he was staring off into the distance. Uma only then walked off to toss the bloody rag in the sink and, after a little rummaging around, found some mostly clean bandages.

Uma came back and pulled at Harry's too big shirt. "I need this off," she said softly. Harry looked up at her, eyes a little wide again. "Come on," Uma insisted.

Harry hesitated but then lifted his arms with a wince to help Uma get the shirt off. Uma scowled at the bruises and other bites across his torso. None were as bad as the one on Harry's shoulder, but it was disturbing seeing the marks. Who even bit people? That was weird... even for the Isle. Like, why would you? "Evil, does Avery eat people or something?" Uma asked.

"... or something," Harry said.

Uma was confused at that, but something about the tone of Harry's voice told her not to ask. So, she settled for just wrapping his shoulder and any other particularly bad spots on his bare chest. "You're skinny," she said after a minute. Heck, he was like half of Gil and Gil had to fight his brothers to get his food all the time. "Are you hungry?"

Harry didn't answer, he was staring at some random spot on the floor. Uma glanced in the same direction but couldn't find anything unusual about it. Uma studied Harry's distant face. His pretty eyes were pained, and just a little wet. The blood was still all over his chin. That probably wasn't the best feeling in the world. Uma reached up and wiped some of the crusty blood from his skin.

Harry blinked a few times and looked up to Uma standing in front of him. "Wha..."

"You like squid, Harry?"

Harry made a face. "Nah. Too slimy."

Uma chuckled a little. "How about tuna?"

"I... I guess."

"Alright. Wait here, I'll get ya something," Uma said. Harry just blinked again but didn't move to get up when Uma went over to the fridge. She was pretty sure that there were a couple halfway fresh bits of tuna still in there.

She was surprised when Harry stayed put in the seat, but he seemed to be gazing off at nothing again, his fingers fiddling with some sort of bracelet around his wrist. Uma watched as he slowly started to get more agitated, just sitting there. Well, the humming thing had seemed to help before, right? Uma started to hum again as she heated up the tuna slices in a pan while still keeping half her attention on Harry.

Tuna didn't take long to heat, so Uma finished that up and brought the plate over to where Harry was sitting and put it in front of him. "Here."

Harry gave a start, and Uma raised her eyebrow. "You shouldn't space out like that."

"I wasn' spacin' out," Harry protested.

Uma rolled her eyes and pulled the second chair closer to sit in it. The frame creaked but held together. After a long moment, Uma nodded to the plate. "If you don't eat that, I will."

Harry looked down and then back up at her. He seemed confused, and Uma couldn't really blame him. She couldn't quite explain why she had decided to give him something to eat or patch him up... or really anything she had done since spotting him. Uma liked his eyes though... even if they were a little too wide-open and had this panicky element that sometimes seeped in. She would like them more if he didn't look like he was as on edge as he clearly still was.

After a moment of indecision, Harry leaned closer to the table. The elbow under his non-bitten shoulder braced him on the table edge. Uma hadn't thought to bring over silverware, but Harry didn't seem to care. He just picked up one of the bits of tuna and ate it with his fingers. The corner of Uma's mouth pulled up in a smirk. "Like it?"

"No' really," Harry said as he chewed the too tough fish.

Uma laughed. "Yeah, I don't like the food here either. But better than nothing, right?"

Harry shrugged but then clearly regretted it from the expression that crossed his face. His expression faded back to neutral quickly and then he went back to eating. Uma reached over and touched the spot above the nasty bite. She didn't press, not wanting to make it hurt, but she could still far too easily imagine it just under the slightly stained bandages. "This Avery guy the one you stabbed?" she asked.

Harry slowed his chewing and after a minute, swallowed. "Kinda dark... couldn' tell," he said. Uma noticed he was staring again, this time at the table in front of him.

Uma quickly realized she really didn't like that expression on him. She moved her hand to gently tug at some of his dark strands of hair. He blinked and looked over with a frown. "You should bite him back next time... see how much he likes it," she said as she absentmindedly twirled some of his hair between her fingers. It was surprisingly soft and felt nice as she played with it.

A smile slowly started to grow on Harry's face. "I should bite 'im," he said softly. "Keep 'imself ta 'imself."

"There ya go," Uma said. Her smile grew larger at the sight of his. "You've got a nice smile, ya know. You should show it more."

"Why're ya bein' so nice ta me?" Harry asked. "It's weird..."

Uma shrugged. She wasn't at all sure why she was doing what she was, but she wasn't about to admit to that. "You can owe me a favor," Uma said. "Deal?"

"A favor doin' wha'?" Harry asked, warily.

"Well, since you don't seem to mind stabbing people... I've got a couple of people you could handle for me. Nobody big or tough or anything... just annoying pains in the ass," Uma said. Really she had quite a few people at school she'd meant to put in their place, but every time she got near they clustered, and Uma wasn't stupid enough to fight one on many. They wouldn't gather if they saw Harry coming though. No reason to.

Harry's eyebrow went up. "Interested?" Uma asked.

"... do ya care how bloody they get?" he asked, leaning closer.

Uma could see the violence wanting to bubble up and smiled. Harry's own smile came back even wider than before. It looked more frightening this time and a lot more manic. "Not even a little bit, Hook. You can beat them up as much as you want."

Harry's bruised and bloody face lit up. "Now tha' sounds like fun..."

Perfect. Uma had had a feeling he would like to hurt those smaller than him. Who didn't? Being strong like that was the best feeling ever. It always helped cheer Uma up. Uma wondered if he was strong enough to beat Mal's annoying butt. Mal thought she was so tough just because she was Maleficent's daughter. Uma didn't buy that though. And maybe this was how she could prove it. She'd have to see how tough Harry was, though. Build up to someone like Mal.

"The name's Uma."

"Uma," Harry repeated, and Uma felt a strange thrill go through her at the way he said it. Like it was more than just her name. Harry smiled, pulling at the split in his lip and making it ooze again slightly. "Harry Hook. An' I'll beat whoever ya want."

"Beautiful."


End file.
